Choosing your backdrop

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When you are making a headshot of somebody, the person is the most important thing in the photograph. One way you can make your subject look and feel good is by using a backdrop. In this video, Levi Sim walks you through things to consider when thinking about what type of backdrop to use when creating headshots.

- If you search online for different types of backdrops,…you will find hundreds of options.…There are things like muslins and patterned backdrops.…There are popup backdrops.…There are diamond cloth and all these different things.…I don't think you need to get that complicated with stuff.…For the most part, doing headshot photography…on backdrops, you'll mostly want to use black, white, or gray.…Because you're using black, white, or gray,…you can actually get all three of those colors…simply using a white backdrop.…

If you add light to a white backdrop, it stays white.…If you reduce the amount of light on it, it goes to gray,…and if you don't shine any light on it,…you've got a black backdrop.…However, one of my favorites is these…popup backdrop like this one.…This is about a five by seven popup backdrop.…This one has black on one side and white on the other.…The black here has a very velvety texture,…which is terrific because you don't see it…in a photograph.…

When you don't shine any light on this,…it goes very, very black.…

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Released

1/29/2018

Making headshots for businesspeople can be fun and lucrative. In this course, instructor Levi Sim covers the essentials for making great business portraits, from lighting and camera choices to interacting with your subjects and helping them look their best in front of the camera. Levi explains how to find your unique style, select lenses that are flattering to your subjects, position your lights, and pick the right backdrop. He also shares tips for posing your subject for a headshot in a way that looks natural, and shows how to efficiently retouch headshot images.